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Bizarre Anti-Gay Conference Begins in Uganda

A strange mix of speakers started off a conference in Kampala, Uganda today. Invited by Stephen Langa, leader of Family Life Network (FLN), they are to speak on the theme “Exposing the Truth behind Homosexuality and the Homosexual Agenda.” Langa is concerned that homosexuality might be decriminalized in Uganda due to a recent court case there. In fact, he would like to make the laws stronger. Currently, being gay there can get one life in prison. Names of suspected homosexuals are posted in newspapers and there are periodic witch-hunt like marches in the streets.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has a blogger, Victor Mukasa, covering the conference. Here is some of Victor’s report for this first day.

Stephen Langa said that homosexuality is a big problem and the existing laws that criminalize gay people are not good enough. He kept referring to the recent victory in the case Victor Mukasa and Yvonne Oyo vs. Attorney General as one that gay activists are going to keep using to promote their agenda.

Kasha Jacqueline told me that Stephen Langa was telling immense lies, claiming that gay rights activists recruit young people into homosexuality. Langa testified that he knows 2 girls at a particular boarding school who were given a lot of money by gay activists in Uganda to recruit their colleagues into lesbianism. He claimed that by the end of the year, they had managed to recruit 13 friends, all of whom were given money to recruit others.

Kasha was incensed by these claims: “To be sincere, I have spent a long time as a leader in the gay struggle in Uganda and sometimes we cannot afford to do our advocacy work because of lack of funds,” she said. “How then can we give out money for recruitment. That’s not logical and it is a huge lie he was telling to Ugandans.”

The rest of the workshop was dominated by Don Schmierer, a member of the board of the American “ex-gay” organization, Exodus International. His presentation was focused around his understanding of family morals and values. He told participants that one of the biggest causes of homosexuality is the lack of “good upbringing” in families—children should be brought up in proper Christian ways.

He said that 56% of homosexuals experience abuse and violence in their families during their childhood. The abuse leads to pain, anger and hatred in the life of a child and this turns them into homosexuals. He emphasized that “good” family values play a big role in preventing homosexuality in children and encouraged parents to ensure that these values are observed in their families.

As we reported earlier, Don Schmierer is a board member for Exodus International. He has written books on “preventing homosexuality” and largely blames the father. He provides a list of “signs that an adolescent may be struggling with gender issues.” It is hard to overstate the absurdity of this list or the idea that one could use it (or anything else known) to prevent someone from becoming gay. We know of no data to support such a claim, yet Schmierer is speaking as an expert on the subject in a country that puts GLBTs in jail.

It is important to note that around this time two years ago, Exodus International President Alan Chambers expressed support for the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), writing in his blog:

Today is the International Day Against Homophobia. And, you might be surprised to learn that I support this effort. Homophobia does exist. Irrational fear of those who are gay or lesbian is a real problem in our culture. While I believe we have come a long way, I still see true homophobia at work each and every day.
…
So, when it comes to the evils of homophobia, bullying, name calling, hatred and violence where those affected by homosexuality are concerned, I stand with all decent human beings who are fighting and praying for an end to the ignorance and ungodliness that cause them.

Join me, won’t you?

Exodus Executive Vice President Randy Thomas and (then) youth analyst Mike Ensley expressed their total agreement and even praise for his stance. This represents the public face and executive management of Exodus and they said this less than two years ago. What happened?

At the very least, we think it imperative that Exodus International have a clear, bold, concise statement in favor of decriminalizing homosexuality and then refuse to deal with countries which maintain such draconian laws. This is a matter of basic human rights and necessary for Exodus to maintain any semblance of credibility whatsoever.

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8 Comments

Wonderful, they’re losing their culture war here in the U.S. so they are now taking it over to other countries. Man alive when will this ever stop? I watched the justices discuss prop 8 today online. Fascinating, however California sure did set itself up for an ongoing mess including a big waste of tax dollars on law suits that will continue to come forward if the justices rule that prop 8 stand. If they had just not allowed prop 8 to go on the ballot California would not be in this expensive mess that the bankrupt state cannot afford.

Their constitution needs to be revised to require major changes such as prop 8 to only happen through a legislative process of 3/4 of the state legislature, etc. They are going through a constitutional crisis right now because they should have fixed this a long time ago.

I’m beginning to wonder if they are necessarily losing here in the US. For instance, what I have read concerning the arguments over Prop 8 today, it appears as if one of the “4” in the previous decisioni will not vote in favor of overturning Prop 8. I think it will stand.

There is a great difference between upholding Prop 8 and believing that a person can change their sexual orientation. It might shock you to know that one of the judges who originally voted against the previous CA Supreme Court decision is a lesbian. Regardess of how she votes on this case, I doubt she believes that Exodus has successfully converted even one gay person to straight (especially since there is no convincing evidence that such a change has ever occurred or is even possible).

Some good may come out of this evil. The more outrageous Lively, Schmierer et al. become, the more likely it is that Exodus will be shamed and irrevocably discredited for all the world to see. If so, then thank God.

No good, alas, will accrue to the gays and lesbians of Uganda. God help them.

Kenneth Starr stood before the justices and essentially asserted the will of the people should be upheld even it’s ‘unwise’.
Unwise?

There was a great disregard, until late in the proceedings I thought, to remind the court of the legacy of discrimination that gay people have already suffered.

And that they are a perpetual minority. There is nothing that will change their numbers, nor increase their likelihood of fighting a popular vote. That is definitively un-Democratic and the Constitution was used SPECIFICALLY against a specific group. No one else has to share the vulnerability NOT being ABLE to marry represents.

Although this same court found no compelling reason (and there isn’t one) to deny that gay people can’t or shouldn’t marry, K. Starr didn’t care about that and neither did the CA voters.

Most of those who object to gay people marrying state reasons that are illegal to deny EVERYONE in the first place.

As I’ve pointed out, it’s ILLEGAL to KEEP adults FROM committing to their responsibilities in a marriage or parental function.
Our laws not only can’t prevent divorce or compel someone to stay married, or with their children….the courts have effectively rendered it impossible for gay people to make that responsibility more secure and functional.
How can the public say it’s right to KEEP someone from doing so?

As pointed out in court, homosexuality doesn’t keep a person from doing so, nor wanting to.

The will of the people, as we know, has a function but also there are checks placed within the Constitution that a minority can’t be protected from the tyranny of the majority.
And Prop. 8, more than any other law since Jim Crow, certainly constitutes a tyranny.

There are black people who say that being gay isn’t like being black.
And no one is saying it is.
However, it doesn’t take being a ni*ger to be treated like one. And there is no compelling reason to exclude gay people from Constitutional protection more than say, someone’s religious choice.

Being gay has been here longer than anyone’s religious invention, but mores the point…the redefinition of the Constitution to discriminate or affirm a people’s ‘unwise’ popular vote is scary beyond belief.

Prop. 8 wasn’t worth putting on the ballot, and it was a good fight with gay couples trying to attend to doing what IS RIGHT by their relationships.

It IS an all or nothing issue. And it’s straight people feeling entitled to take more and more away from gay people that brought this in the first place.
With an Obama administration, I hope by the time this gets to SCOTUS, and it must, there will be more freethinking justices committed to what the Constitution REALLY means and for whom.

[…] Stephen Landga of the Family Life Network in Kampala, Uganda, held a meeting to follow up on the conference from a couple of weeks prior. Approximately 60 people attended the talk in which Langa attempts […]